Great performance today and what a result! We can now go to Wigan in midweek and look for revenge after they done us at the SoL a month or two back. Since MoN has came to the club he has changed things around drasticially and we have a top, top manager at the helm. As for the lads today they were class My player ratings.. Mignolet - 7 - Looked abit decisive early on when coming to claim/punch the ball but I would after his injury, got better as the game went on and with only 4days traing a great performance back. Gardner - 8 - You wouldn't think he was being played out of position, top performance from the lad Colback - 8 - Didn't look out of place and after the first 20mins or so never really give Johnson a sniff O'Shea - 8 - Taken a lot of stick but looked better at the heart of defence Brown - 7 - Was worried when he went off cos he was have a blinder Larsson - 7 - Good performance from the lad playing in a more central role, certainly put a shift in Cattermole - 9 - Captains performance and MoN is certainly getting the best out of him lets hope he keeps it up and doesnt let himself down Vaughan - 7 - Workhouse in the side, never gives up and is turning out to be a great signing, very underrated player IMO Sessegnon - 9 - He is outstanding at the minute, his pace, vision, technique and trickery is something that I have not seen from a midfielder before in a SAFC shirt. We must keep him. McClean - 8 - This lad is something special, pace, trickery, can go inside or out and is strong, great performance today and worked hard defensively as well as going forward, Bendtner - 7 - After the first 25mins I thought the lad looked lazy and when lost it never worked hard to get it back but looking at the bigger picture he was unselfish today and led the line with no support for the majority of games, slows the play down to much at times but will get a few goals for the remainder of the time he is here. subs Kilgallon - 8 - Great performance from the lad. I was worried when he came on with his lack of football but he fitted in perfectly and if he can keep that level of performance up he certainly has a future at SAFC, keep it up mate! Ji and Elmo weren't on long enough but how cool was Ji to go around the keaper, will give him some confidence now. Not forgetting we were missing Westwood, Bardsley, Richardson, Bramble, Turner and Wickham who have been major players this season. Bring on the transfer window, we need 3players IMO Onuoha, Pienaar and Pavyluchenko please As for team for Wigan, even if the injured or ill players are available I would start with the side that started today apart from Kilgallon in for the injured Brown (cannot see him being available).
"Not forgetting we were missing Westwood, Bardsley, Richardson, Bramble, Turner and Wickham who have been major players this season.2 If Richardson and Turner were on, we would have lost that game. Mingolet was 5 at best. Have to agree about Gardner looked very good defensively and also when he broke forward.
Unfortunately I wasn't mate, watched it infront of the box with a few cans and the whole street probably heard me screaming when we got the winner haha
Given how much the lads put into today's performance, our crippled defence and only 48 hours break I'll be chuffed with 4 points from citeh and Wigan. Just to keep us within touching distance of the top 10 and a big enough gap from the bottom 3.
Yep Wigan is going to be really hard with only 48 hours and a knackered squad and team. It will be hard for the team to reach the same heights they reached today in such a short time. If we do pull off a victory I think the excitement will be unbelievable around here.
Tell you what. If we had lost yesterday then tiredness would become a factor. If we had drawn then less so but in winning in the most dramatic fashion, they will be absolutely buzzing lads for the Wigan game now. Not one of them will want to miss out and the ones coming back will be desperate to be involved. That's what winning games does. Better than ralgex for easing muscles. Lol
Not conceding doesn't mean he played well mate. Flapping at crosses and bad positional play, the one time he managed to actually punch a ball it went about ten yards to a City player on the edge of the box who then had a shot blocked by a defender.. Terrible kicking where nearly every time he kicked the ball he kicked it to City. The main reason we didn't concede was our defenders. The saves he did make were bread and butter straight at him. Couple of those he fumbled and recovered thankfully. That was one of the best defensive displays I have seen in a very long time, the lads worked so hard to protect his goal. Which is why we had the clearer chances to score, even though City had the majority of the ball!
